In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Note: The day Benazir Bhutto was murdered, December 27, 2007, it was the day when all the semblance of government evaporated in Pakistan; there was widespread anarchy and uncertainty; there was arson, loot, and destruction. Fear prevailed. As if the life and property of ordinary citizens of this country were forsaken by the State! Here is the Story:

Where
there is no property there is no injustice.
John Locke

Regardless
of the controversy whether we human beings are by nature good or bad, what is
crucially required to keep our society intact is that we must be treated as
free agents. This washes away all those excuses the science of psychology and
its Freuds and no-Freuds have heaped on and which provide an eternal alibi for
the criminals to prove their innocence under the guise of this or that mental
state or illness, or this or that instinctual impulse which, it is pleaded,
eventually forces them into acting that crime: that they were not just
themselves at the time of crime (I would like, in such cases, that self of
theirs to be punished at least!).

Thus,
it is of immense significance, and both tradition and moral and social values,
and law too, have it that everyone who commits an offence must be tried and
punished accordingly. It behooves to be presumed that it is a certain person
and it is he and only he who committed the crime. Otherwise, we will have only
crimes, and no criminals, a state of affairs we cannot afford if we believe in
justice and its dispensation as the sine qua non for the continuation of a
society.

The
true relevance of this requirement demonstrates well when we are faced with a
concrete danger to our life and property. It must be noted here that property
is not a separate entity from one’s self though physically it is; rather it is
an extension of one’s self and his life. ‘Every man has a property in his own
person. This nobody has a right to, but himself,’ Locke observed. He held that
‘the reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.’
Without property we, who are not all mystics, are just in the midst of a forced
hermitage, a state of social and existential nothingness. Probably it is why we
protect our property at the risk of our life; and, certainly it is why we take
lives of others to grab their property. Also, it was why in the 18th century
England stealing was punishable by death.

It
is in this context that the focus of British classical liberals such as Locke
(1632-1704) and Hume (1711-1776) on the protective function of government can
be best understood. Locke maintains that ‘government has no other end, but the
preservation of property.’ Hume believed that ‘the convention for the
distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all
circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and
that after the agreement for the fixing and observing of this rule, there
remains little or nothing to be done towards settling a perfect harmony and
concord.’

Thus,
any authority that takes on the task of governing a people, for it the foremost
thing is to extend protection of life and property to every individual under
its jurisdiction so that he should live in peace and happiness. If it fails to
deliver that, it loses the confidence and trust of its people. Converse to all
this, the state in Pakistan, as a rule, has been quite unmindful of this
foremost responsibility. In the heat of moments, such as the assassination of
Benazir Bhutto, it just sleeps. Actually, whatever government is it, a civilian
or military or any other, they have a theory to make excuse of: Let people vent
their anger. They think this diverts people’s attention from the real issues
and real culprits.

After
the cold-blooded murder of Benazir Bhutto, the loot and arson that took place
has shaken the confidence of all the citizenry. No doubt, her assassination
must be condemned in unequivocal terms, and on the face of it is itself the
strongest evidence of the state’s criminal negligence in protecting the lives
of the people and their leaders. But of course it should not be taken as an
excuse for the uncalled for lawlessness to prevail. No incident of any
magnitude licenses anyone to incur damage to the life and property of his
fellow citizens.

However,
the fact is that as the news of her assassination spread, unruly mobs took to
the streets and markets and let loose a reign of terror as if no administrative
authority existed in the country. From big cities to small towns, routine life
and businesses suffered a standstill for days. As many as 58 people were killed
amidst the worst lawlessness. The state’s conspicuous absence from the scene
further created a sense of fear and insecurity among the people. Though the
initial estimates of loss and damage have started pouring in, the real damage
that has shattered the society’s trust in the ability of the state to protect
the citizenry is immeasurable.

Here
are some horrible recounts of the loot and arson private and public property
underwent:

The ensuing night of December 27 witnessed the horrible act of
burning of a hospital in Karachi.

Inside a garment factory which was set on fire by the rioters in
Karachi seven workers including a woman lost their lives.

16 Edhi ambulances were set on fire.

Dozens of trucks which were torched in Korangi Industrial area
included two trucks loaded with wheat.

According to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry 5 days of
riots caused a corporate loss of Rs.80 billion, and the loss to GDP is to
the tune of Rs.8.706 billion.

A total of 699 branches of various banks were looted, damaged, and
burnt. The State Bank’s estimates of losses reach about Rs.1.2 billion.

Trains carrying passengers were stoned, attacked and burnt. In two
cases, after forcing the passengers to disembark the carriages were burnt.
In total, 6 trains, 78 train bogies, 26 locomotives, and 25 railway
stations were set on fire. As much as 16 bridges, 18 level crossings, a
number of railways cranes and motor trolleys were set ablaze. At six
places, the rail track was uprooted and fish plates were removed; railways
communication system also suffered damage. The loss is estimated to be
more than Rs.12 billion.

This
was not the first such incident when the people of Pakistan were forsaken by
the state. Only a few months back in May 2007 Karachi was subjected to a most
brazen show of lawlessness under the criminal silence of provincial and federal
governments. The fact of the matter is that whenever there is such a public
outrage, the theory: ‘let the people vent their anger’ comes into force and
government’s administrative authority disappears altogether. As to the December
27 chaos, there are concerns that in some cases the looting particularly of
banks was organized and was done by organized groups.

All
this is outrageous. However, what is more outrageous is that government has set
up a commission that will assess the extent of the damage done to private and
public property. Whereas what is required is the setting up of a commission
that should include representatives of all sections of society, and it should
be tasked in the first instance with the determination of the fact why and how
the law enforcing agencies and their bosses from top to bottom absented when
the reign of terror was let loose across the country, and of course to ensure
that there is law in the country those found guilty of negligence be awarded
due punishments.

As
to the demand of compensation being made by the manufacturers, traders,
transporters, and small businessmen who suffered incalculable losses, they
should realize that in fact it will backfire. Seeking compensation from
government will no doubt result in levying of more taxes, and entrenching of
the rentiers’ regime. Ultimately it will hurt their own businesses by reducing,
already shrinking purchasing power of common man. The lawful course is to file
damages suits in the courts against both law enforcing agencies and ransackers.
That will set a precedent for the future also.

But
as is expected the courts may not be able to provide them with justice, and in
that event the government will be stripped of all the semblance of its
protective function and a government for the people. Thus it will lose all
moral, legal, and constitutional authority to tax the citizens. That will be
the end of such regimes which have made Pakistan such a place for people to
live where if there be choice they will migrate to other lands where their
person and property is safe.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

This article was written last year in the wake of December 16 APS Tragedy to expose the Politicians' inaction. It's still relevant today on December 16, 2015.

The road ahead is quite straight

Beware
of the politicians! They cannot think and act out of their politically blocked
mentality! They are a victim of paradigms made of their own choice; that’s why
they disdain rules, laws and the constitution, which require and bind them to
act accordingly. They won’t break the paradigms, which ensure their short-term
survival, and it’s seldom that they shift to newer paradigms of thinking and
action in a broader perspective. Whenever that happens, that happens temporarily
and perforce due to the force of the circumstances, like the one which the
December 16 Peshawar massacre of the children generated, or under the pressure
of the “Subjects,” “Awaam,” like the one which got Iftikhaar Muhammad Chaudhry
former Chief Justice of Pakistan restored against the will of the whole “state”
of Pakistan, which its politicians consider themselves to be the “Ashraaf” and “Haakim!”
So the moment that pressure releases, they are the same politicians - Haakim
and Ashraaf!

What
are these paradigms of Paki politicians? First, see how they respond and react
to such tragedies of unfathomable magnitude! Try to empathize the immense grief
the Peshawar massacre caused: 132 is the number of those innocent souls death
of whom has devastated hundreds of families, thousands of their relatives and
friends, millions of their dreams, and shocked billions of human beings all
over the globe! The unimaginable tragedy has jolted Pakistan’s “imagined
enemies” also! And how the politicians, whether they are in the parliament or
out of it, took it is more important, relevant and pertinent in the sense that
it will show at the end of the day how the state of Pakistan is going to tackle
the menace.

The
first political paradigm comprises the narrative which includes: condemnations, consolations, condolences,
resolutions; and the likes. The second paradigm calls for meetings,
conferences, APCs; and the likes. An APC of all the parliamentary parties we
have already seen happening. Another highlight in this regard is the Pakistan Peoples
Party’s demand to call for a joint session of the parliament. The third
paradigm opts for constitution of commissions for inquiries, investigations;
and the likes. There are various inquiries and investigations, announced and
unannounced, already in the process. The fourth paradigm focuses on setting up
commissions, committees for devising action plans. As a result of the
above-mentioned APC, a parliamentary committee has been formed to devise a
National Action Plan, which has already set up a Working Group. The political
imagination never goes beyond these paradigms. Hence, it’s rarely seen that the
action plans thus devised by such committees are put to work or put through. Nor
are implemented any findings and recommendations of any inquiry commission or
investigation committee thus formed.

Right
from the beginning: Justice Munir Inquiry Report (1954), the only report the
original text of which along with its official Urdu translation the then
government made public, never put to any use; Hamoodur Rahman Commission
Report, which inquired into the military debacle of East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) never saw the light of the day nor were implemented any of its
recommendations; Saleem Shahzad Inquiry Report, which inquired the mysterious
murder of Saleem Shahzad, a renowned journalist, did not bear any fruit; and,
Abbottabad Commission Report, which inquired into the circumstances under which
Osama Bin Laden safely resided for years in Abbottabad, a military town, remains
dumped in all respects. So that’s the fate of all the political paradigms!

As
mentioned earlier the politicians seldom come to alter their paradigms, it
amounts to saying that they won’t change them this time too, and though there is
unprecedented outrage against the politicians as well as so-called powerful
Generals of the army, the politicians won’t do anything worthwhile but such
measures which help them water down the social and psychological heaviness that
the Peshawar massacre of children has begotten. Most probably, they will drag
the issue and allow time to lessen its intensity and finally bury it. Although
executions of certain terrorists have started making headlines, whose dead
bodies otherwise should have by now worn out in the graves, there is nothing
substantial in the offing as the “measures and actions” the government is
deliberating and taking now attest.

In
contradistinction to it, what may be termed “cash politics” in point of fact
takes no time to get launched; for instance, a number of power generation
projects are in the pipeline, whereas no attention is being given to the real
cause of the acute power shortage, i.e. mismanagement in the power sector. It
is such opportunities that the Paki politicians are most interested in. In
other words, it’s Cash Politics where the political paradigm of action may only
be seen working actively. All other issues, whatever their magnitude and
fatality, do not interest the Paki politicians.

In
case, someone starts analyzing the present troubles, his findings will reveal
that the miseries and killings the ordinary Pakistanis are undergoing today may
be traced to such issues which were deliberately delayed and complicated by the
politicians, and that they were never dealt with sternly and with
determination. That list includes Terrorism, Extremism, Sectarianism, Non-Civilian
Supremacy as the top most issues. The question staring us in the face is: Do
the Pakistani constitution, rules and laws on the one hand, and the courts,
police and other related institutions and agencies on the other are not
competent enough to deal with these and like issues? The courts had already
handed those terrorists death sentence whom the government is executing now! Also,
if new legislation and new institutions were required in order to cope with
these menaces, why it was not done in time promptly and efficiently! Why
relaxing in political paradigms remained the way of the politicians? In
conclusion, it may be said that the state of Pakistan has already got all that
paraphernalia it requires to deal with these issues; do not give it turns and
twists; leave your political paradigms; the road ahead is quite straight; have
courage to tread it and focus on the Unity of Action, not on the Unity of the
Nation, and Unity of the Politicians!

Monday, December 7, 2015

“I
am a politician; I cannot commit any crime; I am perfectly innocent!”

That
is how, as we know at least in Pakistan, politicians argue. That manner of
political self-defense clears the two-way traffic: criminals may become
politicians; and, politicians may become criminals. Pakistanis have enough of
both. And the breed is multiplying like rabbits. All the more, species
belonging to other realms of social, economic, military, cultural, religious
have started aping the politicians. They have learned the art of politics from
them. That’s a hundred percent fool-proof method of overcoming any odds.

Also,
that has rendered all the systems of accountability inefficacious. Why?
Because, and it is awfully baffling that, all the systems of accountability are
conceived, detailed and legislated by the criminal politicians or political
criminals. Who can forget the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)? And it
is these politicians, tainted with criminality, who appoint the heads to these
accountability systems, just like Chaudhry Qamar Zaman, has been appointed
Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Just like the leader of the
opposition party in the National Assembly, Khurshid Shah, has been made Chairman
of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Such systems are a product of the
political-criminal complex in Pakistan.

The
latest episode from this complex unfolded a few days earlier when on May 29 an
anti-corruption court issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of former
prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, former commerce
minister and a member of Gillani’s cabinet. Both are senior leaders of Pakistan
Peoples Party. Seven others include the list of the accused in this case which
allegedly involves major irregularities of Rs.7 billion in granting freight
subsidies to fake trading companies by the Trade Development Authority of
Pakistan (TDAP). Previously both politicians were issued three notices to
appear before the court. As the notices were ignored (note their arrogance!),
then bailable warrants were issued. Now non-bailable warrants have been issued
with hearing adjourned till June 17.

The
same day the former prime minister issued a statement and said: no case in this
country was completed without implicating him whether it was the case of OGRA,
NICL, NRO, TDAP or Haj scam. He added: the beneficiaries of the NRO had been
exonerated but he was still facing the music. His political alibi was worded
thus: ‘He asked the government to avoid crossing the limits of victimization
and unleash it to the extent they could also bear it tomorrow. They had no
stomach to tolerate even the fraction of what was going on against him.’

No
sooner this news item flashed than the political machinery of Peoples Party got
switched on and statements started pouring in the newspapers and TV channels to
beat the drum of political victimization. Very next day co-chairman of the PPP
and former president Asif Ali Zardari ‘deplored the victimization of former
prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf and former federal
minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim behind the façade of accountability as witch-hunting.’
He warned: ‘that bodes ill for the politics of tolerance, accommodation and
reconciliation.’

This
narrative of Political Victimization is very much typical and repeats itself on
various occasions and for various personalities. Now it’s Asif Ali Zardari’s
turn to mouth it: in his statement he pretended to be shocked while, according
to him, the PPP was seeking to protect the democratic system through political
reconciliation the government was chasing political opponents and thereby
undermining the unity of political forces. His tirade is totally based on political
alibi: he said that decisions in national policies whether in the rental power
plants or subsidies or concessions in importing commodities were taken
collectively and transparently by the cabinet in the light of objective
realities and singling out the prime minister is patently wrong and smacks of
political victimization. Also he found a poignant similarity between the
hounding of Benazir Bhutto in late 1990s for the decisions jointly taken by the
cabinet at the time and the chasing of Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervez Ashraf
and Makhdoom Amin Fahim now for decisions taken by the cabinet. He advised the
government to review its policies and stop witch-hunting and victimization of
political opponents.

This
narrative of political victimization amounts to this: all the decisions
politicians make while they are in government, whether they prove to be good or
bad, must be treated as unquestionable; since by dint of their electoral
mandate they are innocent; and more than that by virtue of their being
politicians and representing the people they cannot make any wrong decisions. In
short, in their capacity of being politicians, they are infallible. And while
they win elections, they place themselves beyond every norm, value, principle,
and morality and law; thus, their infallibility perfects. Gillani’s and Zardari’s
words quoted above are based on these presumptions. They may be termed as the
Political Alibi.

Thus
the political alibi claims the politicians must be considered and treated as
beyond the law of the land. That means they are King, who used to be law unto
himself. So they, the politicians of Pakistan, are law unto themselves. No need
to try Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, or Asif
Ali Zaradri for any wrong-doing; they are infallible; they are themselves law
of this land.

Or
otherwise, if this or any other government think of trying or tries them, their
narrative by implication means to say that, they will not protect the
democratic system; they will give up political reconciliation; and so on. In
this sense, the political alibi conceals threats of undermining the system. Just
as psychological alibis provide criminals with excuses for their crimes, such
as harming others, or murders in the name of honor, etc; in the same way,
politicians use the political alibis as excuses to hide their inefficiencies,
incompetencies, corrupt and dishonest practices, scamming, nepotism, cronyism, and
misappropriating the public exchequer.

Finally
it may be reminded that the law of Pakistan provides for no such alibi to any
one, be they politicians. That was why they took recourse to the NRO;
otherwise, such a law would have come to their rescue. If any charge is made
against any politician, he / she should present himself / herself in the court
of law and prove his / her innocence. Political alibi is no way of proving ones
innocence; it may prove the guilt, instead!

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.